Lieutenant governors come from all over Pennsylvania, but for nearly 50 years, they end up living in the same place: Lebanon County.

A series of surprisingly informal decisions led to Fort Indiantown Gap housing the state’s second-in-command:

The lieutenant governor's 2,400-square-foot home home off of Fisher Ave. in East Hanover Township was originally built for the state adjutant general as part of a 1941 pre-World War II construction boom at the Gap, according to retired Maj. Gen. Frank H. Smoker, Jr.’s 2009 book “Back at the Gap: The History of Fort Indiantown Gap.”

When former adjutant general Edward Martin became governor in 1943, he decided he didn’t like the aging governor’s mansion and wanted to move back to his old home at Fort Indiantown Gap instead, according to Smoker.

Six subsequent governors lived there year-round until Pennsylvania finally completed the new governor’s mansion on Front Street in 1968, Smoker wrote.

When former governor Milton Shapp moved into the Front Street mansion, he “offered” the Gap home to lieutenant governor Ernie Kline’s large family of seven children moving from Beaver Falls in the western part of the state, according to a 1971 Lebanon Daily News article. The change was approved by the General Assembly and the home was officially renamed the State House.

Monica Kline, Ernie’s daughter, was five years old when the family moved in. For a young child, it was magnificent but also somewhat like living in a museum with furniture that was considered off-limits.

“It’s kind of like going to your aunt’s house when she’s got plastic all over,” Kline said.

“People would literally wander in”

The Klines quickly began a tradition of the lieutenant governor being a visible part of the Lebanon County community.

Monica Kline, Ernie Kline's daughter, said her parents wanted her to have as normal a childhood as possible. She went to kindergarten at Lickdale Elementary School, then joined four of the Klines’ other seven children in taking the bus to St. Mary’s School in Lebanon. Some of the Kline children were in the Lickdale Fire Department, and they attended St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Annville.

Pennsylvania is likely the only state to provide a home to the lieutenant-governor. The home is located at Fort Indiantown Gap.(Photo: Submitted by Pennsylvania Department of General Services)

Mark Schweiker, who served as lieutenant governor for nearly seven years before becoming governor, also made sure his children were involved in the community. His three children rode the bus to school, played in a Lickdale basketball league and got to know the waitresses at nearby Funck’s Restaurant. His children still talk about the chocolate milkshakes at Funck’s, he said.

In the early years, at least, people would visit the lieutenant governor’s home unannounced.

Josephine Kline, Ernie’s wife, told the Lebanon Daily News in 1971 that a milkman knocked on their door minutes after they moved in.

A reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer once rang the doorbell asking to speak with Josephine Kline, her son Samuel Kline recalled. The reporter was shocked to see her wearing jeans and making kielbasa sandwiches while family members were drinking Iron City beer, Samuel Kline said.

That situation hadn’t much changed by 1987, when Mark Singel became lieutenant governor.

“I viewed it as the people’s home. People would literally wander in,” Singel said.

Schweiker said the security was more secured by the time he became a resident in 1995 and security protocols were strengthened after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It now has a gated driveway to prevent people from driving onto the property without permission.

The home’s location also created familiarity with Gap operations. Schweiker said his children got to a point where they could identify a type of helicopter by the sound of its rotation. Samuel Kline, a son of Ernie Kline, remembered one time that the tape the Gap used for reveille stuck on a loop and continued to blast just-woken ears for eight minutes.

Some lieutenant governors decided to stick around the area after leaving office. Singel, originally from Johnstown, still lives in South Londonderry Township. Samuel Kline became a judge for the Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas.

Schweiker no longer lives in Lebanon County but also has fond memories of his time spent there.

“It’s a very comfortable, rural setting with plenty of services and good people,” he said.